Vegan & GF sage walnut pesto pasta with roasted butternut pumpkin cubes!

This evening, I made this stunning & appetizing vegan & gluten-free pasta dish! I never made sage & walnut pesto before, let alone vegan so I invented this stunning vegan pesto. I used GF penne pasta to make it GF too. I felt I was lacking something so I added roasted sage & butternut pumpkin cubes! Check it out, my friends! It is easy to prepare, make & is great for entertaining too! I made this dinner from scratch in 35 minutes! You don’t miss the cheese in this pesto! I also used some great & tasty organic walnut oil as my secret ingredient!

You taste a lemony twist in this stunning roasted walnuts & sage pesto & the oven-roasted butternut pumpkin bits are more sweeter & this combo is a perfect match! Yummy too!

A divine & tasty vegan sage & roasted walnut pesto pasta with sage-roasted butternut pumpkin bits!

The Vegan sage & roasted walnuts pesto before stirring it into the hot GF penne!

Ready to attack!

Recipe: For about 1 cup & a bit more

Ingredients:

** For the vegan sage & roasted walnut pesto:

1 cup walnut pieces, toasted  (in a dry non-stick pan for about 5 minutes on low fire, just to toast them & you can smell their lovely aroma. Watch the nuts carefully, you don’t want to burn them! )

1/3 cup of  sage leaves, firmly pressed into it

1 fat clove of garlic, peeled & finely cut up

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

2/4 cups of organic walnut oil = 1/4 cup + 1/4 cup of walnut oil!!

10 grins of black pepper, finely milled

1 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt flakes, crushed

** For the rest: pasta & roasted sage & butternut pumpkin bits:

250 gr Gluten-free & vegan penne pasta ( You need this penne or another form of pasta because the pesto will get into the pasta tubes & that’s what you want!

306 gr butternut pumpkin: peeled, threads & pits removed, cut into bite-sized cubes

a fruity olive oil/ I used Carbonell, my favourite fruity EVOO ( Spanish ):  3 to 4 tablespoons

5 sage leaves, cleaned & torn into pieces

black pepper, finely milled: 10 grins

1 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt flakes: crushed

Method:

1. First make your pesto. Take a food processor or your Vitamix. I used my Vitamix, of course! Place the toasted walnuts, sage leaves, cut up garlic, lemon juice, black pepper & the sea salt, in this order into your machine. Add 1/4 cup of the walnut oil & mix, using the tamper in the fitting lid, until it is to your liking, on full speed & full power. I love nearly all mixed up. I added another 1/4 cup of walnut oil to make my pesto more smooth & lovely! So , in total I used 2/4 cups! Taste! It has to taste fantastic. You can taste the roasted walnuts, the sage & the lemony fresh twist.

2. Preheat your oven to 200°C ( 400 F ). I always use a fan oven. Adjust your oven to the right temperature, for 10 minutes. Boil water to cook your pasta. Take a large oven baking dish, non-stick too. Place all of your bite-sized butternut cubes in it, in 1 layer. Add black pepper, sea salt flakes & torn sage leaves. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of that fruity EVOO. With clean hands, mingle everything well together. Wash your hands. Place in the middle of the hot oven & roast for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending, until roasted & cooked through. Check the oven often to prevent burning. Lower the temperature if you need to. My dish was ready after 17 minutes. Turn oven off. In the meantime, you have cooked your pasta according to the packet instructions.

3. Drain pasta well. Spoon the pesto into a lovely little pot. Serve cooked pasta into 2 lovely pasta plates. Spoon 3 to 4 teaspoons of the sage & walnut pesto in the middle of each pasta. Mix well with a spoon so that the pesto is well into the penne-tubes. Now, scatter the sage-roasted butternut cubes all over your pasta plate. Enjoy instantly with a loved one! MMM!

My organic walnut oil!

If you liked this post, SUBSCRIBE to Sophie’s Foodie Files: It is free!  RSS – Posts

You might like:

1. Roasted pumpkin, chorizo & thyme soup, served with a savoury home-made feta & pumpkin bread!

2. Fusilli with butternut pumpkin, smoked bacon & a cheesy sauce!

3. Sophie’s festive stuffed pumpkin!

4. Vegan spiced oven-roasted veggies!

5. Sophie’s vegetarian butternut pumpkin , quinoa & red bean chili!

About these ads

---